The Infernal Syndrome - Session 29: Bloody Fox in the Darkness

Dramatis Personae

Alfaren "Alfred" Eredel - Elf transmuter

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) evoker

Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue/assassin

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma

Wealday, 15 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

As Alizander and Boecca attempt to calm the increasingly agitated Dargentu Vheed, Jancen advances towards the area where he believes the invisible vulpinal to be located. Steeling his nerves, he leaps in her general direction, intent on subduing the vulpinal before she loses the few shreds of sanity keeping her from attacking the group. He misses and becomes visible; the vulpinal howls in rage, a keening, cat-like yowl that sends tremors down the spine. She paws at Jancen with her filthy claws, and at her touch Jancen is overcome with debilitating pain that wracks his already frail body with agony. He doubles over and falls to the ground, consumed with only the pain coursing through his muscles and bones.

Boecca hurries in with calming words magnified by powerful magicks. The vulpinal visibly calms, but her darting, feral eyes reveal the anguish and rage that lurks just underneath. Tavo comes forward with Boecca, speaking to the vulpinal in a measured voice, explaining that he has divine energies from the goddess Pharasma herself that can help her escape the pain she is suffering. Tavo retrieves a scroll from his pack and starts a droning prayer to the goddess of death and rebirth. The diving healing energy of the prayer washes over the vulpinal; her perpetual snarl relaxes, and her eyes suddenly fill with tears.

“How can this be?” says the vulpinal. “So many years I have spent here; how many has it been? Who are you? I am called Jezeletrix, how can I ever repay you?”

Even as Jezeletrix speaks, the Returners can see that the brief flash of colour in her eyes begins to fade, and her glossy, silky fur clumps into mats and tangles before their very eyes. Before she lapses fully into pain-wracked insanity again, Boecca insists that they will save her, and asks if she will permit them to bind her and remove her from the cavern. With her last sane breath, Jezeletrix agrees, extending her arms for Boecca’s manacles. She falls comatose soon after, a small, lifeless heap on the filthy cavern floor. Alizander easily hoists Jezeletrix’s small body onto his shoulders, and the Returners head back to the safehouse and convene with Janiven and Arael.

Once back, they describe their trials in the Nessian Spiral. Arael and Janiven express regret at the loss of Vaeden, and introduce the party to Vaeden’s lifelong mentor, the elf wizard Alfaren, referred to by friends as Alfred. By way of introduction, the aloof elf inclines his head ever so slightly to the party, and requests to join the Returners’ in a slow, measured voice.

Later that night, under cover of darkness in the old shrine to the dead god Aroden, the Returners, along with Janiven, Arael the cleric of Iomedae, and their new member Alfred, join hands in a night-long vigil over the comatose form of the celestial vulpinal Jezeletrix. The group inscribes arcane sigils in circles around the vulpinal, burn rare incense and other, less-than-legal substances, whisper prayers to whatever god or power they choose, and utter words of magic. By morning, their efforts have worked. Jezeletrix wakens from her coma to find the bone-twisting pain gone, the years of abuse and torture suffered under Dargentu Vheed only memories now. Somehow, the Returners managed to mend her broken soul, and bring her back from the brink.

The fox-like vulpinal tells her story, of the years she spent as Dargentu Vheed’s plaything, research subject, torture victim, and bootlick. She tells the party that she spent at least two decades in the Nessian Spiral, most of the time a pain-wracked haze in the lightless cavern in which they found her. Occasionally she would venture into the complex, when her hunger was too great for rats and grubs to satisfy. She describes several features of interest to the party – a pair of vats filled with blood, with numerous tubes and pipes. She recalls Vheed referring to the device as the capacitor, a machine that stored the energies siphoned from the pit fiend at the centre of the spiral, then disbursed it as necessary to the house and Asmodean Knot above. She describes a series of five cooling chambers – huge pools that somehow conditioned and leeched the taint of the pit fiend’s influence from the energies drawn from him before feeding it to the capacitors.

Finally, she remembers Vheed speaking numerous times of the potential for disaster if the engine was to ever fail, saying that a malfunction could result in a feedback loop, feeding the infernal energies back into Liebdaga the Twin to the point that the pit fiend could rend his prison like confetti and unleash hellfire upon the city. She recalls he carried a rod he called the Stygian Rod, which he explained could be used to shut down the cooling chambers and capacitors in the event of a malfunction.

Jezeletrix thanks the Returners profusely and offers her eternal gratitude and service. She insists on remaining at the safehouse to recover and assist the party in its efforts to save Westcrown from the evil cloud it has suffered under for the last 70 years.

Oathday, 16 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

The Returners make their way back to the Nessian Spiral late in the afternoon. On their way to the site, a number of panicked Wiscrani citizens mill about the dottari barricade barring entrance to ground zero. The Returners discover that the six dottari guards stationed at the barricade have been killed. An investigation by Tavo reveals their bodies to be nearly drained of blood, and each is covered with numerous gory bite wounds. The party recalls the dominated dottari lieutenant they met at the barricade two days ago, but agree that the pit fiend within the Nessian Spiral is the greater threat for the time being. The vampire Ilnerik and whatever spawn he has in the city will have to wait.

The Returners continue where they left off in the Nessian Spiral. Much is as they left it the night before, although the bodies of the Council thieves and Avahzi Serafian appear to have been moved or examined in their absence. The party moves deeper into the complex. As they make their way closer to what they assume to be the heart of the Spiral, the malfunctioning of the engine becomes more apparent. They find the capacitor room – a room containing two large vats full of some blood-like substance. Errant bolts of electricity arc randomly through the room, and the tremors and rumblings felt earlier in the complex become more pronounced. Incessant shrieks and howls reverberate throughout the Spiral. Later, the party comes across the first cooling chamber – a circular room dominated by a massive pool of roiling dark water. Jancen and Carlos discover a crystalline valve on the wall (which appears to have a slot for a rod of some sort) and, after a good ten minutes of work, just barely manage to rotate the valve. As they do so, the errant jets of steam and fire in this cooling chamber cease, and the boiling pool soon dies down. The two adventurers decide to collect some of the water, and after closer inspection, believe it may be drawn directly from the River Styx. With this knowledge, Jancen and Carlos take extra special care of the vials of Stygian water in their possession.

Meanwhile, Alizander, Boecca, Alfred, and Tavo continue past the first cooling chamber. They discover two storage rooms that contain a group of steam mephits. The mephits waste little time attacking those who disturbed their steam play, and are summarily defeated. Boecca, recalling a secret door discovered earlier on in the complex, doubles back to check it out.

Boecca creeps invisibly down the rough tunnel behind the secret door until it opens into a larger chamber rank with mould, body odour, and rotten food. Several filthy mattresses lay haphazard in the room, which is occupied by a group of sorry-looking tieflings – a group Boecca assumes to be the ‘tunnel rats’ referred to by Lord-Mayor Aberian Arvanxi. As he scans the room, Boecca gets a strong scent of perfume – an intoxicating, musty aroma from another tunnel just to his left. Soon, a raven-haired, green-eyed beauty exits the tunnel. The woman wears nothing; her pearly skin glows luminescent in firelight. Despite her stunning beauty and lack of attire, Boecca’s eyes are drawn elsewhere – the pair of black bat-wings that extend from the woman’s back.

“I am rather bored,” the bat-winged woman says to the tieflings in the cavern. “Perhaps I will venture into the city and bring back some entertainment; you lot are a bit too filthy for my liking….”

Suddenly the woman glances in Boecca’s direction, as if sensing his presence.

“Wait, I sense something. A smell I recall. Hobgobin? Orc? There’s someone here!”

Treasure

· From the Nessian Spiral – The Spiral Walk

o Crystal tubes (6) (worth 600 gp – 100 gp each)

o Vials of Stygian water (value unknown)

Experience Awards

· Story Award (capturing and saving Jezeletrix) – 19,200 xp

· Steam mephits (4) – 3200 xp

· Story Award (deactivating cooling chamber #1) – 1600 xp

· Total – 24,000 xp

· Per PC (6) – 4000 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé – 49,535 xp each

· Alfred – 47,000 xp

· Boecca – 46,780 xp

· Tavo – 45,790 xp

· Nagiphax – 31,657 xp

· Damien Hellbent (cohort) – 22,360

· Total Current Fame Points – 15

The Infernal Syndrome - Session 28: Routing the Council Usurpers

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard

Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue/assassin

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue (and Damien Hellbent, cohort)

Wealday, 15 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

Alas, Vaeden’s wits do not save him against the diabolist Avahzi Serafian. Under a spell of invisibility, Vaeden avoids the swipes and thrusts of the Council thieves’ rapiers and perches precariously in the corner of one of the small prison cells lining the hallway. The Council thieves are loath to enter the cells themselves, piled as they are with the fresh bodies of their comrades who failed to make it further into the Nessian Spiral. But Vaeden is unable to avoid the diabolist’s invocations to the archdevil Mammon. Time and time again she bathes the hallway in waves of vile, life-draining energy. Vaeden’s cohort, Damien Hellbent, manages to break through the two-inch wall of stone blocking the door to the hallway and valiantly attempts to save his leader, but he is too late, and both Vaeden and Hellbent fall under the diabolist’s relentless plague of death.

Avahzi’s imp companion, Novankia, continues to harry Tavo and Boecca in the main room, diving and weaving through the air and avoiding the shadows under Tavo’s control. Novankia casts a spell over Tavo, convincing him that it is in his best interest to send the shadows after the frightening half-orc (Boecca) nearby. Boecca suffers several draining hits from the incorporeal shadows before Tavo breaks the devilish imp’s mind control. As the two try to eradicate the persistent Novankia, Tavo manages to have a few shouted words with a bound thief that Hellbent discovered in the storage room just off the main chamber. In between dodging attacks from Novankia, he cuts the thief’s bonds and learns that his name is Jalki, and that he was bound by the other thieves because it was discovered he was a spy for the Council loyalists. Jalki claims that Avahzi and the other thieves in the Nessian Spiral are part of a splinter group intent on usurping control of the Council from the powerful Drovenge and Eberigo families that currently control it. This information confirms what the Returners learned from Crosael in the ruins upstairs. Jalki manages to escape from the Nessian Spiral while Tavo and Boecca are busy fighting with Novankia and Avahzi.

Alizander and Jancen continue down the other side of the complex, exploring the den of the cerberi. There they find two heavy, reinforced iron chests. Carlos isn’t far behind, but gets waylaid by one of the Council thieves who hid in an armoury off of the main hallway. As Carlos steps into the room, the craven thief stabs at him with a rapier. Carlos recoils in horror; the sudden movement beside him causes him to conjure a hemispherical shield of force almost without thinking, bending the thief’s foil almost to the point of breaking. Carlos retreats, while Jancen moves in and begins harrying the thief with his crossbow, eventually bringing him down.

Finally, the battle is over. Avahzi Serafian and her retinue of Council thieves are defeated. Tavo provides some healing to Damien Hellbent, but can do little for Vaeden Corleone, last surviving scion of House Davion, who fell whilst defending his comrades against the hell-fed power of the elven diabolist, Avahzi Serafian. Damien gathers up the body of his mentor and bids farewell to the Returners for now.

Moving on, Jancen discovers a well-concealed secret door in the small room containing the iron chests. He opens the door and views a narrow, rough-hewn and low-ceilinged passageway beyond. The air wafting from the tunnel is moist, foetid, and rank with the scent of dog and feral animal. Jancen explores the tunnel under a spell of invisibility, and discovers that it opens into a larger cavern, although the ceiling still rises only four feet from the floor, forcing him to crouch uncomfortably. Squatting in a crude and filthy nest in the cavern is a feral-looking creature – a small humanoid with the figure of a woman but the features and fur of a red fox. The creature mutters to herself in several languages, Jancen picks out a few words in Infernal, Celestial, and Common, including several references to Dargentu Vheed, whom the fox creature refers to alternately as ‘sir’, ‘master’, and ‘devil-kissing degenerate’. Her ears perk up suddenly, and she begins sniffing the air. At first Jancen fears she has notice him, then the fox creature snatches a rat as it scurries across the floor and begins tearing into it with her tiny but razor-sharp teeth.

Jancen makes his way back to the other Returners and explains what he saw. From the description, Alizander believes the creature to be a vulpinal agathion, a bipedal race with animal-features from the plane of Nirvana. The creature’s actions strike him as odd, however, as his knowledge of the planes suggest that the vulpinals are a goodly and regal race. As the Returners talk it over, they come to believe that something terrible must have befallen the vulpinal in the cave for it to have become so feral and insane. Alizander and Boecca both express a desire to help the creature, and the party makes its way into the cavern to confront the vulpinal.

Jancen goes in first, invisibly, and situates himself nearby the vulpinal’s nest to observe the proceedings. Alizander comes in next, holding a light source before him, followed by the half-orc Boecca. Jancen notes that as the light source becomes evident, the vulpinal becomes very alert. She mutters an incantation and becomes invisible. Moments later, Jancen hears her utter another incantation nearby, and the image of a middle-aged man with a black beard and black robes appears near the nest, stooped over in the cramped cave. The bearded man’s features twitch nervously, his eyes dart to and fro, and a small rivulet of frothy saliva dribbles from the side of his mouth.

“Who goes there? Who dares intrude upon the home of the Lord-Mayor of Westcrown? Can you not see that I am busy? Impudence! Insolence! If I discover you are responsible for the tremors and rumblings in my home I will have you drawn and quartered. No, that’s too quick, better to soften you up first.”

Treasure

· From the Nessian Spiral - Treasury

o +1 Dwarven waraxe (worth 1165 gp)

o Wand of quench (11 charges) (worth 1237 gp)

o Clay golem manual (worth 6000 gp)

o 2400 gp

· From the Council Thieves

o Potion of cure moderate wounds (6) (worth 900 gp total)

o Leather armour +1 (8) (worth 4640 gp total)

o Masterwork rapier (8) (worth 1280 gp total)

o Masterwork hand crossbow (8) (worth 1600 total)

o Coins and jewelry (worth 2400 gp)

· From Avahzi Serafian

o +1 Shortspear (worth 1150 gp)

o Scroll of sending (worth 700 gp)

o Wand of cure moderate wounds (15 charges) (worth 675 gp)

o Wand of spiritual weapon (6 charges) (worth 270 gp)

o Masterwork breastplate (worth 175 gp)

o Light steel shield (worth 4 gp)

o Headband of inspired wisdom +2 (worth 2000 gp)

o Phylactery of negative energy channeling (worth 5500 gp)

o Gold unholy symbol of Mammon (worth 120 gp)

o Leather pouch containing unidentified herb

Experience Awards

· Council thieves (5) – 4000 xp

· Avahzi Serafian and Novankia – 4800 xp

· Story Award (permitting Jalki, a deep-cover agent of the Council loyalists, to escape) – 3200 xp

· Story Award (killing off Aberten Vittershins, Avahzi Serafian, and other agents of the Council usurpers) – 4800 xp

· Total – 16800 xp

· Per PC (6) – 2800 xp (including Vaeden)

· Cohort (Hellbent) – 2000 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 45,535 xp each

· Boecca – 42,780 xp

· Tavo – 41,790 xp

· Nagiphax – 31,657 xp

· Damien Hellbent (cohort) – 22,360

· Total Current Fame Points – 15

The Infernal Syndrome - Session 27: A Schism in the Council

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard

Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue/assassin

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue (and Damien Hellbent, cohort)

Wealday, 15 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

With Aberten and the Council thieves defeated, the Returners take a few minutes to speak with the former majordomo of Aberian’s Folly, Crosael Rasdovain. Crosael takes a defensive posture, unsure of how the group will ultimately deal with her and unwilling to place too much trust in Jancen, despite her knowledge of his tiefling heritage. She examines the forged contract provided by Jancen and Alizander and believes it to be real, but suggests it is little good to her now, as the escaped thieves will surely inform the Council of Thieves of her treachery. She expresses little desire in accompanying the party, but does provide the following information:

· As the Returners have already gathered, the Council of Thieves is alive and well – rumours that it long ago disbanded are false.

· There’s a schism building in the Council between the traditionalists and a new group that wants to have more direct control over the fortunes and citizens of Westcrown.

· The schism is led by the grandson and granddaughter of one of the Council’s oldest and most respected leaders, Vassindio Drovenge, patriarch of arguably the most powerful house in Westcrown.

· Vassindio’s granddaughter, Chammady, is a beautiful but dangerous assassin and accomplished swordfighter.

· Vassindio’s grandson, Eccardian, is the more dangerous sibling, a charismatic and brilliant charmer who is also, much to the Drovenge shame, at the very least a tiefling – some whisper that he is actually a half-fiend, and others that he is the son of the archdevil Mammon himself.

· The Drovenges and their followers have entered the endgame – they’re making various power plays now throughout Westcrown to seize control of the Council and, soon thereafter, will attempt the same of Westcrown’s government. It is rumoured that the Council usurpers have allied with a vampire named Ilnerik.

· There exists a handful of powerful enemies whom the Drovenge siblings particularly want to see murdered – these include most of the loyalist leaders of the Council of Thieves, the semi-legendary swamp hag known as the Mother of Flies said to know the secret (and weakness) of Eccardian’s bloodline, and the Returners themselves.

· The Drovenge siblings hope to make peaceful contact with Liebdaga the Twin and, in exchange for freeing him, hope to recruit his aid in taking control of Westcrown. Even if the thieves currently in the Nessian Spiral – led by Avahzi Serafian, an elf diabolist and worshipper of Mammon – are defeated, as long as Liebdaga remains alive or in Westcrown, the danger of such an alliance being forged remains.

· Before the Drovenges’ agents can contact Liebdaga, they are struggling to master the deadly dungeon that imprisons him in order to reach him. This is the Nessian Spiral below the ruins of Aberian’s Folly. Research has indicated that successful navigation of the Nessian Spiral would be made vastly easier for the one who manages to gather three important items – 1) a copy of the contract used to imprison the pit fiend Liebdaga; 2) a Stygian Keyrod used to manipulate and control the machinery that maintains the devil’s prison; and 3) Liebdaga’s devil talisman. The Stygian Keyrod and Liebdaga’s talisman have so far eluded discovery, but reports from Avahzi indicate that her divinations suggest that they are hidden somewhere in the Nessian Spiral.

Crosael leaves the ruins, indicating to Jancen that she must lay low for a time and that she may contact him again in the future. Armed with Crosael’s knowledge, the Returners venture into the Nessian Spiral. Tavo leads the assault with the two shadows under his control. Within the first few chambers in the dungeon they encounter Avahzi and her squad of Council thieves. A long battle ensues between the Returners and the cold-eyed elven cleric of Mammon. Alizander and Carlos bombard the thieves with spells, while Vaeden, his cohort Hellbent, and Boecca wade through the melee. Tavo directs his controlled shadows to attack the Council thieves in addition to providing much-needed healing to injured allies, while Jancen ventures to explore another section of the dungeon, disturbing a pair of hideous, skinless three-headed dog-beasts. While pursuing Avahzi, Vaeden becomes separated from the rest of the group via a well-placed wall of stone spell cast by the elven diabolist. Facing two Council thieves and Avahzi herself, separated from his friends and comrades, Vaeden weighs his options for survival.

Treasure

· From Aberian’s Folly Ruins

o Silverware, crystal, art objects, etc. (worth 6000 gp)

o +1 axiomatic mithral longsword (worth 10,000 gp)

Experience Awards

· Council thieves (3) – 2400 xp

· Cerberi (2) – 4800 xp

· Total – 7200 xp

· Per PC (6) – 1200 xp

· Cohort (Hellbent) – 857 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 42,735 xp each

· Boecca – 39,980 xp

· Tavo – 38,990 xp

· Nagiphax – 31,657 xp

· Damien Hellbent (cohort) – 20,360

· Total Current Fame Points – 15

The Infernal Syndrome - Session 26: Infiltrating Aberian's Folly

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard

Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue/assassin

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue

Toilday, 14 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

Vaeden, Boecca, Tavo, and Carlos track down Nyxervex to his lair within the Rasdovain gatehouse and destroy the bone devil before it manages to heal itself sufficiently to rejoin the battle. They also discover ten citizens of Westcrown stacked like cordwood in two storage rooms in the gatehouse – unfortunate abductees of the osyluth devil. Tavo examines the Wiscrani and determines that they are not dead, but in a severe weakened, comatose state. The group begins transporting the unresponsive bodies out of the gatehouse and into an emergency first aid station set up by Tavo outside of ground zero.

Meanwhile, Alizander and Jancen begin to parlay with the halfling Aberten. Jancen attempts to convince Aberten and the other thieves to allow him to speak to Crosael Rasdovain, implying that he is a close associate of the Lord-Mayor’s former majordomo. Aberten cares little for Jancen’s attempts at diplomacy, however, and orders the thieves to attack. Alizander falls under the thieves’ rapiers, but the attack is aborted when several of the dottari guarding the south approach decide to intervene. Aberten escapes back into the manor, while Jancen manages to capture one of the thief henchmen.

Jancen revives Alizander and the two rejoin the rest of the Returners with the captured thief. The group decides to retire for the rest of the night. Tavo remains at the first aid station near ground zero to tend to the survivors found in the Rasdovain gatehouse. Jancen, Alizander and Boecca interrogate the captured thief, Dourik, and learn that he works for the so-called Council of Thieves under the halfling Aberten “the Dealer” Vittershins, who recently assumed command after the death of Lozendi, who was killed by the erinyes devil soon after the explosion at the site. They also learn that a second group of thieves is exploring the Nessian Spiral under the manor under the command of a cold, calculating elf woman named Avahzi. Given the choice, it becomes clear that the thief is glad he does not serve under Avahzi, even considering his present situation.

The group learns that the Council thieves infiltrated Aberian’s Folly several days before the explosion, with the assistance of Crosael, whom Dourik describes as a tiefling woman with features more cat-like than fiendish – a far cry from the human woman the Returners met at the Six Trials of Larazod after-party almost three months ago. Dourik explains that Crosael is an agent of the Council of Thieves, who, as far as he knows, has been working a deep-cover operation as the Lord-Mayor’s majordomo since he took office twenty years ago. Apart from this, Dourik knows little more information, and in fact admits that he is not quite sure what about the motives of Crosael, Aberten, and Avahzi, and believes they may be operating at odds to the Council leaders. Dourik insists he doesn’t specific Council leaders, but that many of Westcrown’s noble elite – the Drovenges, the Oberigos, and others – are surely counted among them. Satisfied that they have gotten all they can from the thief, Boecca, Alizander and Jancen decide to let him go.

In the early morning hours, Jancen sneaks back into the site at ground zero and makes his way (invisibly, with the aid of a potion) to the far side of the existing wing of Aberian’s manor, where he manages to access Crosael’s room. The tiefling (who was sitting at a chair, examining a text of some sort, even at this early hour) notices the intrusion immediately. Jancen manages to avoid a fight, however, and trades words with Crosael for several minutes, appealing to her tiefling heritage and revealing that he knows of the location of the Lord-Mayor’s contract with Liebdaga the Twin. Jancen finds himself drawn to the alluring tiefling woman – the timbre of her voice and its songlike quality; the curve of her hip; the shift of her cloak as she glides through the room – and readily agrees to retrieve the contract and bring it to her the following day. As he leaves, he begins hatching plots for turning Crosael to his own cause.

Wealday, 15 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

The following day, the Returners head back to the site of Aberian’s Folly. They approach the north side of the remaining structure, where they are attacked by four shadows. The shadows are hesitant to venture into the daylight, and appear to be guarding the northern door into the structure. Tavo manages to wrest control of two of the shadows from their former master, whoever that may be, and the party defeats the other two shadows and enters the structure, bring the battle to Aberten and the rest of the Council thieves inside. Crosael takes a defensive posture, refusing to enter fight against the Returners, who clearly have the upper hand in the situation. Aberten falls under the relentless onslaught, and the rest of the Council thieves are either killed or driven away.

Treasure

· From Isavenda (erinyes devil) – session 25

o Longsword +1 (worth 1158 gp)

o Flaming composite longbow +1 (+5 Strength) (worth 4450 gp)

· From the Rasdovain Armoury – session 25

o Merciful arrows +1 (16) (worth 1328 gp total; 83 gp each)

· From the Rasdovain gatehouse – Nyxervex’s lair

o 450 gp

o Rings (4) (worth 400 gp; 100 gp each)

o Bracelet (worth 100 gp)

o Necklace (worth 100 gp)

o Anklet (worth 100 gp)

o Potions of cure moderate wounds (2) (worth 300 gp; 150 gp each)

· From the Council thieves

o Potions of cure moderate wounds (4) (worth 600 gp; 150 gp each)

o Leather armour +1 (4) (worth 2320 gp; 580 gp each)

o Masterwork rapiers (4) (worth 640 gp; 160 gp each)

o Masterwork hand crossbows (4) (worth 800 gp; 200 gp each)

o Crossbow bolts (40)

o Coins and jewelry (worth 1200 gp)

· From Aberten “the Dealer” Vittershins

o Punching dagger +1 (worth 1176 gp)

o Magic wands (2) (properties unknown)

o Leather armour +1 (worth 580 gp)

o Masterwork daggers (3) (worth 453 gp; 151 gp each)

o Magic ring (properties unknown)

o Illuminated Harrow deck (worth 250 gp)

o Pouch of gold dust (worth 100 gp)

Experience Awards

· Trap – glyph of warding (from session 25) – 1200 (divided among 7 PCs)

· Nyxervex, bone devil – 6400 xp

· Shadows (4) – 3200 xp

· Council thieves (8) – 6400 xp

· Aberten “the Dealer” Vittershins – 6400 xp

· Story Award (defeating Liebdaga’s faithful – Nyxervex and Isavenda) – 4800 xp

· Story Award (rescuing Nyxervex’s victims) – 4800 xp

· Story Awards (turning Crosael) – 4800 xp

· Total – 36,800 xp (divided by 6 PCs); 1200 xp (divided by 7 PCs)

· Per PC (6) – 6304 xp

· Nagiphax – 171 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 41,535 xp each

· Boecca – 38,780 xp

· Tavo – 37,790 xp

· Nagiphax – 31,657 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 15